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Hooker looks to New York
His first two Diamond League competitions have not brought Steve Hooker the results he wanted, but the world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion is still enjoying life on the road with the all-new elite-level tour.
In Oslo, Norway, for Round 3 of the Diamond League series on
Friday night, Hooker took time out from his hectic pole vault
schedule to take in the Bislett 800m clash between David Rudisha
and Abubaker Kaki, as reported below in his latest IAAF online
diary entry.
“I went into the stands and watched (the men's 800m), it was a
fantastic race. Those guys just absolutely went for it. I was on my
feet after the first 100m and I’d lost my voice by the end of the
race. To be there and watch that sort of race and see the crowd
getting into it as well, it was very exciting.
“I like Rudisha. I enjoyed watching him run in Australia this year.
His 400m in Sydney and his 800m in Melbourne was an exceptional
run. He ran essentially by himself and ran a very fast time on what
everyone else said was a dead track. I’m a big fan of his and hope
he starts to break into the 1:41s later in the season.
“As for me, I know I’ve under-performed in two Diamond Leagues so
far and I’ve got to find a way to get that confidence back in the
next competition.
“I think 2007 was the last time I no-heighted and I guess it was in
similar circumstances. I no-heighted in two competitions in a row,
Zurich and Berlin, and had to get it back.
“In a lot of ways I still am quite confident. I still have a good
picture in my head of how I should be jumping and what I’m doing in
training, what I’m doing in warm-ups - it’s just a matter of making
that transition from what I’m doing in warm-ups to what I’m doing
in competition.
“Physically I feel fine, I’m not injured or anything like that. The
body is okay.
“In both Shanghai and Oslo I warmed up very well but the
competition didn’t go so well. In Oslo there was the added factor
of the wind. Usually when I warm up well I compete well; it’s been
quite a while I’ve warmed up well and it just hasn’t happened in
competition. But this year is different, I normally haven’t
competed at this time of year. It’s definitely a different feeling
and I’ve had a different lead-in with regard to my
preparation.
“(Coach) Alex (Parnov) wasn’t in
Oslo so I’m looking forward to having a chat with him this week and
working out a strategy to get over this little slump.
“One thing I’ve got to work on is getting a good number of
full-approach jumps in training this week.
“With all the travel these last couple of weeks I haven’t had the
opportunity to do full-approach jumps in training. Obviously, I was
hoping to do more in the two competitions as well, but I’ve had
just eight jumps for only one clearance. Those numbers aren’t good
and that’s what I want to improve. I want to work on the number of
positive jumps I’ve had and the amount of jumps I’m actually doing
and what I want to do on the pole and on the run-up. That’s the aim
for the next week and also for the time after New York as
well.
“I’m looking forward to New York. It’s one of my favourite cities.
There’s plenty to do outside the competition. I jumped 6.01m at
Millrose last year, so there are good memories for me. That’s
always a good start.
“I haven’t competed outdoors there, but I’ve heard it’s okay. Jenn
Stuczynski did one of her American records there.
“I’m just aiming to do some good training over the next week in
Germany and then give it my best shot to try to make it
happen.
“I’m pretty confident in what I’m doing. It’s just a matter of
doing a bit more work and seeing what happens.”
With thanks to the IAAF
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